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Girl Meets the New Teacher
"Girl Meets the New Teacher" is the tenth episode in season 2 of Girl Meets World.https://twitter.com/GMWWriters/status/575987887600050176 It aired on July 17, 2015 to 2.4 million viewers. Overview A new English teacher is hired at John Quincy Adams Middle School, who has a non-traditional way of educating. When she wants to use a comic book as a learning tool, the principal is not pleased with her or Cory, who defends her creative ways of teaching. Plot At school, the kids sit and wait for their cantankerous teacher, Mr. Garaboski. To their delight, Cory comes to tell them that their grouchy teacher retired yesterday. The class are happy to be rid of him as he was always talking about the good old days, before the state of New York stopped teachers from physically punishing children. Cory introduces their new teacher, a leather-jacket wearing, motorcycle-riding young woman called Harper Burgess. The kids are impressed by how different their new teacher is compared to what they are used to. Harper is teaching the kids about Frank Miller's comic book miniseries The Dark Knight Returns, set in a dystopian future in which Superman is on the side of an evil government so Batman fights against him. Harper breaks with tradition and asks for the kids to call her by her first name. As she teaches the class in her unorthodox way, Principal Yancy sees the kids reading comic books and comes to the classroom to demand they stop. Yancy tells Harper it's against school policy for kids to read comic books and call their teacher by their first name. Yancy asks Harper if she's familiar with To Kill A Mockingbird and tells her to teach that to the class instead. After the principal leaves, Harper is undettered and sets her kids the assignment to read The Dark Knight Returns. At home, Topanga is surprised that Riley and Maya are rushing through dinner so they can go do their homework. When Riley explains their assignment is to read a comic book, Topanga remembers that she and Cory had a teacher, Mr. Turner, who taught them with comic books. As the kids tell Topanga more about their new teacher, Topanga realizes that Cory, who was on the committee that hired Harper, is clearly up to something. Cory tells Riley and Maya that Principal Yancy is like Superman, because he has a lot of power and isn't necessarily on the right side of the argument here, and they realize Harper is like Batman, since she has no power but is fighting the good fight. When Topanga says this is going to cause real trouble, Cory admits that he is hoping so. Back in the classroom, Harper asks the kids for their opinions on good and evil. Can either side change and does good always have to win in the end? As she talks to the kids, Principal Yancy returns and is angered that they're studying comic books against his wishes. When the principal sends the kids to studyhall, Riley and Maya rush to get Cory. When Cory arrives, he's surprised to hear Yancy is firing Harper. Cory stands up for Harper and her lesson plan, telling Yancy that just because she rides a motorcycle and teaches comic books it doesn't mean she can't be a great teacher. After Cory tells Yancy that if he wants to fire Harper he will have to fire him too, the principal tells Cory he's fired. At home, Topanga asks her family about their day. When Auggie recounts his day at school, Topanga has deja vu and realizes he's told her it all before. After Cory says nothing new happened today at all, Riley reveals that Cory was fired. As Topanga tells them that the principal can't fire teachers, he must take it to the superintendent, Topanga realizes why Cory isn't very worried about his job. Back at school, Principal Yancy talks to Harper and Cory alone in a classroom, telling them they're still fired even if it harder to do than he expected. After Yancy tells Cory he has a great relationship with the superintendent, Mr. Turner walks into the class room. Cory tells his boss that he and Mr. Turner go back a bit, too. After Yancy explains how Harper taught comic books and rides a motorcycle, Mr. Turner recounts his first day teaching Cory where he taught X-Men. Mr. Turner says he used to ride a motorcycle until an accident wiped him and his bike out, but he says thing happen for a reason - he married his nurse. Yancy explains how he would prefer Harper taught important literature, like To Kill A Mockingbird. Recognizing something Yancy overlooked, Mr. Turner asks Harper which of her parents named her after Harper Lee, the author of that modern classic. Mr. Turner says he figures Harper will get around to teaching the kids about that book at some point. Mr. Turner agrees to sit on Harper's class and then make his decision. He says he made his decision on Cory long ago - he was the one who hired him. At school, Mr. Turner, Principal Yancy and Cory sit in on Harper's class. Yancy doesn't feel good about his chances of winning the argument when Riley tells her "Uncle Jon" how much they love Harper. Mr. Turner wants to see what the class have learnt from their lesson on the Dark Knight. When Farkle tries to answer, Mr. Turner realizes he's the offspring of Stuart Minkus. Lucas offers to talk about the comic, but he can't lie and pretend he hadn't already read the graphic novel before. So, Mr. Turner turns to the notoriously unteachable Maya for her opinion on the book. Maya and Riley stand up to give a presentation, since Maya only looked at the pictures and Riley read the words. Riley and Maya tell the class and its onlookers what they learnt from Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. Riley says the key word is dark. The heroes and villains in the book are not what they're used to. Maya thinks the author is trying to get them to look at what their world has become. Riley explains that heroes, who should be friends and share a common goal, were fighting eachother instead. Farkle jumps in to say that one hero wanted to show another hero that he needed to take another look at the world and realize it had changed. Lucas said since the hero refused to recognize the changes in the world and change himself, the heroes thought each other which was hard to look a - since heroes are supposed to bring light to the world. Bringing the discussion back to the current day and their school, Riley and Maya explain that people in power should know that, in their new world, there's no need for teachers to hit children with rulers to get them to learn. Mr. Turner is surprised how much the kids have learnt in two days. When Principal Yancy sticks to his argument and tells Mr. Turner that comic books are against school policy, Mr. Turner points out it's also policy that teachers can hit children with a ruler in nineteen states. Realizing he has lost the argument, Principal Yancy leaves the classroom. At the bay window in her bedroom, Riley and Maya talk about what they want to be when they grow up. Although neither of them is sure, Maya accepts that being a teacher may actually be cool. After Riley decided to get her little brother on the road to great literature, Auggie finishes reading an Archie comic which may have a lesson for Riley and Maya. Back at school, Mr. Turner tells the class a decision has been reached. Mr Turner explains that the decision ultimately rested on what a teacher puts into a lesson plan and what the kids get out of it. Harper acted against school policy so the principal decided to do what he thought was right, and he explains that right and wrong can be hard to identify sometimes. Mr. Turner tells them for the greater good of the school, it was decided that somebody had to leave. He introduces them to their new English teacher: Harper. As Mr. Turner joins Maya and the Matthews family for dinner, Auggie asks him about Cory as a student. Mr. Turner initially tries to paint Cory in a good light, but Topanga calls him on lying to her child. Mr. Turner eventually tells Auggie that Cory was such a bad student he became a teacher just so he could go back to school again. When Maya asks Mr. Turner about how he took care of Shawn Hunter when his father left him, Mr. Turner says he loved Shawn like a son and still does. After Riley and Maya thank Cory for being a good teacher, Cory and Topanga pay the same thanks to Mr. Turner. Topanga then takes the opportunity to demand Mr. Turner change an A- grade he once gave her. Cast Main cast *Rowan Blanchard as Riley Matthews *Ben Savage as Cory Matthews *Sabrina Carpenter as Maya Hart *Peyton Meyer as Lucas Friar *August Maturo as Auggie Matthews *Corey Fogelmanis as Farkle Minkus *Danielle Fishel as Topanga Matthews Guest cast *Anthony Tyler Quinn as Jonathan Turner *Stuart Pankin as Principal Yancy *Tania Gunadi as Harper Burgess *Sarah Carpenter as Sarah *Darby Walker as Darby Quotes This information is currently unknown. Trivia *Jonathan Turner, a Boy Meets World regular from seasons 2 through 4 makes his first appearance on Girl Meets World. *Although Riley considers Turner to be an uncle, she was not aware of his current occupation. *Harper Burgess and Principal Yancy also made their first appearance in the franchise. *Shawn Hunter, George Feeny, and Stuart Minkus are mentioned. *''The Dark Knight Returns'' is a 4-issue mini-series, both written and illustrated by Frank Miller, published in 1986 by Warner Bros' DC Comics, longtime rivals of Disney's Marvel Comics Group. *Auggie relates the same events of his day at dinner from Girl Meets Boy. *References to the Boy Meets World episodes "Back 2 School," "Home." and "Cult Fiction" are used. *First appearance of the English Room (Room 36). *He is the Superintendent of schools, affiliated with the New York Board of Education and the NYC Department of Education. *Turner reveals he hired Cory as the JQAMS History teacher. *Cory said that they are not sure yet if Farkle is a real boy. *Maya learns that Jonathan Turner took care of Shawn when he was young. *Jonathan reveals that he married his nurse who cared for him after his motorcycle accident in Boy Meets World. *It is revealed that Cory bought Feeny's old car. *Riley has Auggie read an issue of Archie Comics, and Auggie asks about the love triangle between Archie Andrews, Veronica Lodge, and Betty Cooper, and asks whether they can remain best friends forever, implying a possible love triangle between Lucas, Riley and Maya. *Jonathan Turner asked whether Farkle was Stuart Minkus' son, though Turner and Stuart never met on-screen. Though in "Graduation" Stuart did have a discussion with Mr. Turner off-screen. Also, as Stuart was in the same grade as Cory, Shawn and Topanga, Turner did teach Stuart, albeit off-screen. *When Topanga questioned the legality of Yancy's firing of Harper and Cory, she referred to N.Y. Code Section 3020-a, that an educator can only be dismissed after a due process. Gallery Transcript Videos References Category:Episodes Category:Season 2 Category:Season 2 episodes Category:Episodes airing in 2015 Category:Aired episodes